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Please check with your itunes specialist. It's Wednesday afternoon and Tuesday's podcasts still have not shown up (at least not for my subscription). Last week they arrived in such a timely manner I almost wrote to congratulate whoever was in charge, but this week the opposite is happening. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

I started volunteering!

The training grant program that the state offers -- Section 599 that a caller was talking about -- is poorly run and an inefficient use of taxpayer's money. The educational institutions on their rosters are very limited, and seem arbitrary. There are so many great schools in NYC, but none of them are on the list. The ones that are have outdated equipment, and are not very well run themselves.

The program should be overhauled. It could be a great service, but unfortunately doesn't benefit the people that need it most.

One more question, why is there disparity in the maximum unemployment benefit by state?
In NJ the max is $560.00, in CT $519.00, and in NY $405.00.

So if I live in NJ or CT, not only do I get more money on unemployment every week, I get it for longer.

To address the freelance question posed earlier- if you're getting paid through the company, ie: through their payroll company and having taxes withheld, then you are eligible for benefits. If you are getting paid through your own company and having no taxes withheld then you are not eligible.

Does anyone know: if you're on unemployment, and want to work for a volunteer organization like Americorps--where you get compensation and allowance but not a salary--will you have to stop the unemployment benefits?

#14 Daniel,

the training program they were talking about is called 599. You need to apply while getting unemployment and show a training program that you have to pay for though, will help you improve employment, then you will get benefits while in school.

google ny state labor dept for their website.

Hope that helps. It is called the 599 training program.

At least the economic situation is bringing attention to more people about how difficult it is for people to obtain assistance. This is why TANF was such a huge hit to so many people and a tradegy of the Clinton administration.

As far as the "freelancer vs. employee" thing goes, in 2006 I worked for a small startup.

I was employee number two, worked for them for almost a year, then they fired me without cause.

At first they tried the "freelancer" thing, but I appealed, and got my unemployment; it's not that hard -- employers are counting on you not appealing

Freelancers are not covered (partly because there wasn't really any such thing as a freelancer when unemployment compensation was first instituted).

How about temporary workers? Their numbers are enormous -- employed under poor terms by temp agencies, etc.

Please repeat that New York state program that allows people for extensions of unemployment benefits whie joining retraining program

According to Bush's own financial people, the top ways of stimulating the economy are increasing food stamps and extending unemployment benefits. Food stamps = guaranteed investment through legitimate, sound spending.

How does our welfare system compare with the European system?

Can I continue to receive UI if I set myself up as an independent contractor to work in the insurance industry and don't receive payment on anyparticular week?

I just found this website: http://pbrcmanual.cssny.org/foodstampcal.htm it's a food-stamp benefit calculator. As someone who receives the maximum unemployment benefit, $405 per week, and has no other income, I apparently do not qualify.

Will I qualify for unemployment if I voluntarily resign my job to attend graduate school as a full-time student?

Food stamps:

To apply for emergency food stamps, which is processed much faster, you can't have enough money in the bank to make your next rent.

Brian, New york state and I guess the rest of the country taxes the unemployed on uemployment insurance, does Mr. Stettner have any update on this practice being abolished.

Don't you have to be fingerprinted to get food stamps in NYC?

Why don't we do what the European countries do and give unemployed people a minimum income, rather than forcing them to take workfare jobs (which lower the salaries for everyone)?

59 weeks of unemployment insurance! That's crazy. There are MILLIONS of jobs available. Go to monster.com.

"Unemployment - A Safety Net in Need of Repair"

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12865107

Unemployment as it is barely keeps people above poverty. Supposedly there's legislation to change that, but it got blocked in the Senate.

I've heard of people who were legally entitled to get public assistance having the NYC welfare agencies simply refuse them, by asking them for documentation that they couldn't get.

Are the City agencies illegally refusing people the welfare benefits that they're entitled to?

i cannot believe we are working off a percentage as the baseline to determine unemployment extensions. the population of NY is far greater than CT and NJ.
this encourages people to live in CT and NJ and commute to NY